There are a number of different techniques for supplying plants with the necessary water to survive. More specifically, a number of techniques have been devised to assure that plants—whether in the ground, in pots, or in other containers—receive a continuous supply of water and that the time needed between waterings is maximized.
One such “self-watering” technique places the container holding the plant into a water reservoir for delivering the water in the reservoir to the growing medium of the plant. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 283,966 to Chappell discloses a planter with a tube that projects down into a water reservoir. The water then moves from the reservoir into the growing medium inside the tube, and continues up into the planter. However, both the reservoir and the planter must be of predesigned dimensions, limiting the scope of its utility.
More recently, Canadian Patent Application No. 2,292,302 to Buss discloses a water reservoir that is capable of being buried in the growing medium. A tube from the reservoir extends above the surface to allow the reservoir to be refilled. Water from the reservoir comes into contact with the growing medium through openings. This water passes into the growing medium. However, the size of the reservoir is limited to a predefined size.
Although the above techniques provide methods for supplying water continuously to a growing plant, these typically do so by including a reservoir in their design. They are not suitable for expanding in size to accommodate an increase in the size of the growing area.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved system for supplying water to a growing medium that allows a reservoir to accommodate any size of growing area.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to create an unobtrusive reservoir that is adaptable to a wide variety of water-holding vessels or areas intended for growing plants. It is another objective of this invention to provide a reservoir that can accommodate indefinite sizes.